The Hargrave Tigers (2-6) fell to Roanoke Valley (2-3) on Thursday led by a two goal, one assist performance from Roanoke Valley’s Joel Hill to beat the Tigers 3-2.
Roanoke Valley capitalized early on the Tigers poor play as Hill netted his first at 9:52 on a follow-up put away from a shot of the crossbar from Mitchell Smith. The Tigers were able to create a few chances of their own following the opening goal, but found all of their chances off mark or hit directly at the Roanoke goalkeeper. The Tigers would see ten shots in the first, and despite putting half that on frame would give the Roanoke goalkeeper John Boles five easy saves.
With just under three minutes remaining in the half Roanoke Valley struck with their second of the match as the Hargrave defense was beaten by the hard-work of Hill. Hill was able to penetrate the Tiger’s defensive third to create an opportunity one-on-one with Hargrave goalkeeper Nathan Bloom. Bloom came up with the initial stop, but the bounced right of the goal to a wide open Ethan Boles of Roanoke Valley to tap in the 2-0 lead. Bloom was forced into seven saves in the first from nine out of ten shots on goals from Roanoke Valley.
Less than eight minutes into the second half the Tiger defense once again made a crucial mistake as a long ball found its way in behind the Tigers. Hill was there once again to capitalize on the error and net Roanoke Valley’s third goal through the hands of Bloom.
After going down 3-0 the Tigers continued to play poorly, and were only able to create few chances as they saw only two of their first seven shots in the second on goal to test the keeper. Substitute Chris Bowser gave the Tigers a lift in the final 15 minutes of play as he recorded three of three shots on goal of the Tigers final 5 shots which included a goal at the 71:25 mark. Five minutes later Scott Dinius recorded his sixth of the season from the penalty spot after a hand ball in the Roanoke penalty area. Unfortunately, the Tigers could not find the equalizer as Roanoke held on to the 3-2 win.
